Mitzi Gaynor performs her life at DuPont Theatre

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

By DENNY DYROFFFor the Journal Register News Service

The list of accolades bestowed on Mitzi Gaynor could fill pages.She is an Emmy Award-winning and Golden Globe-nominated film and television legend who has starred in classicslike “South Pacific” and “Golden Girl.” She is also a favorite of Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofsky, better known as Krusty the Clown on “The Simpsons” television show.

Gaynor appeared in her first film “My Blue Heaven” back in 1950 and she’s still going strong. As lively and effervescent as ever, Gaynor has her own stage show that has been playing to packed houses wherever it goes.

As part of its 100th season, the DuPont Theatre is presenting “Mitzi…Razzle Dazzle! My Life Behind the Sequins” as its first “Broadway and Beyond” production. The show will have four performances from February 15-17 at the comfortable theater in downtown Wilmington.

In the show, Gaynor looks back at her career which featured starring roles in an array of blockbuster Hollywood musicals including “Les Girls,” “Anything Goes” and “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” And, don’t forget, she originated the role of Nellie Forbush in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “South Pacific,” which celebrates its 55th anniversary in 2013.

Born Franceska Mitzi Marlene de Charney von Gerber in Chicago a few years back, Gaynor met talent agent Jack Bean and married him in 1954. Working as a team with her husband, Gaynor saw her career take off with films such as “Theres No Business Like Show Business,” “The Birds and the Bees” and “Anything Goes.”

Even though she no longer works in movies, Gaynor has remained energetic and stayed active in show business with her one-woman show.

“The energy that I have — it’s called love of life,” said Gaynor. “I have a gym in my house to stay in shape.”

She has the legs and figure to validate her time in the gym and she’s not shy about showing it off during her live show.

“I sing and dance and change costumes,” said Gaynor. “When I’m on stage, I can relate to the ladies. I can pick on the men but I can also pick on the ladies. It’s a fun show. I’m also getting younger audience members. They love me because I say and do outrageous things. I’m real. I’m not a phony.

“And, there are still a lot of older audience members. A lot of people grew up with me in the fifties. After ‘South Pacific’, I was theirs. After I did films for awhile, I decided to do concert work and started in Las Vegas. It was an act noone had seen before — me and four guys.”

Gaynor’s role as a fan favorite in America was solidified through a series of TV specials that started with “The Kraft Music Hall: The Mitzi Gaynor Christmas Show” in 1967.

“I look at my entire career in my current stage show,” said Gaynor. “It’s always a lot of fun for me and for the audiences. One thing I do want to say to people coming to the show, it’s a 90-minute show with no intermission so pee before you take your seat.”